A woman whose car was hit by a train in North Vancouver four months ago says she's been left high and dry as a dispute with CN Rail drags on.
Karen Faulks was waiting behind a left-turning vehicle at the Neptune/Cargill rail crossing just off of the Low Level Road May 8 when a locomotive collided with the rear end of her car, spinning her around and off the track. Since then, she has been trying to collect insurance to cover the damage, but the case has been held up because fault has still not been determined.
At issue is whether the CN crew at the crossing waved her through while the lights were flashing - a practice that is illegal under the federal Canadian Rail Operating Rules, but something Faulks and others allege they have seen happen on more than one occasion.
"The railway guy was waving us across," claimed Faulks. "They stopped to let all the cars go by because there was quite a lineup of cars, and I guess I was the last one."
She looked back to see the train moving just before it hit her, she said, but had nowhere to go because she was trapped by the car in front,
"It was pretty terrifying. If I had been backed up farther, it would have gone through my driver's side window," she said.
When asked whether CN crews in fact waved Faulks' car through - or if the practice was used at all by crews at the crossing - CN spokesman Warren Chandler reiterated that waving cars through was illegal and not CN policy.
"They're not permitted to direct traffic," he said, but did not confirm or deny that it occurred on the day of the crash.
"The crossing is protected by lights and bells, which were functioning as designed at the time of the incident," he added. "Motorists are encouraged to obey the protection that's at a crossing and use a crossing at all times."
CN Rail has issued Faulks a ticket for unsafe crossing, though Faulks said she will fight it.
Farhad Moradi, a coworker of Faulks, said he was waved through the crossing at the same time Faulks was struck, but in the opposite direction.
"He waved a lot of people through, actually," he alleged of the CN crewmember. "The situation over there is, whenever they let you go, it's (your) chance to go, because it takes a long time."
Two other men who work regularly near the crossing reiterated the same allegation to the North Shore News independently, but spoke on condition of anonymity. None of the allegations has been proven.
ICBC is investigating the collision, but so far hasn't determined who was at fault. That means Faulks is still waiting for money to cover the damage to her car. Although it appears minor on the outside, she said, it has caused the vehicle to shake when braking and has stopped some electronic systems from working.
"I'm driving my kids around in this car that doesn't show me how much gas I have in it, the odometer doesn't work and this is all directly related to being hit," she said,
Although at the time she didn't feel seriously hurt, back problems developed within a week that have caused her to stop working with a personal trainer and to begin visiting a chiropractor twice a week, she claimed.
The crossing receives an above-average number of safety complaints according to Transport Canada, and has seen one other collision with a train so far this year. On July 18, a truck was struck by a slow-moving train and was tipped over.
Port Metro Vancouver is proposing to build an overpass with federal and provincial funding as part of a larger Low Level Road rebuild, but that project has met stiff community resistance over the proposal to raise the height of the road.
